Alfredo Di Stéfano

Alfredo Di Stéfano, (born July 4, 1926, Buenos Aires, Argentina—died July 7, 2014, Madrid, Spain), Argentine-born football (soccer) player and manager, regarded as one of the greatest centre forwards in football history. His reputation was based largely on his performance for the Spanish club Real Madrid (1953–64), for which he was an intelligent player with exceptional all-around skill and stamina. He was twice named European Footballer of the Year (1957, 1959).

Di Stéfano made his first-division debut for the Buenos Aires club River Plate in 1944. There he was the Argentine league’s top scorer, with 27 goals, in 1947, when the club won the first-division championship. In 1949 Di Stéfano joined the Millonarios, a Bogotá club in a high-paying Colombian professional league, with whom he won four league titles (1949, 1951–53) and was twice the league’s top scorer (1951–52). He played for the Argentine national team six times in 1947, helping it win the South American Championship.

In 1953 Di Stéfano arrived at Real Madrid, where he partnered with several outstanding forwards, including Ferenc Puskás, Raymond Kopa, and Gento. During his 11 seasons in Madrid, Di Stéfano led the league in scoring in four straight seasons (1956–59) and helped the team to win eight first-division titles (1954–55, 1957–58, 1961–64), the Spanish Cup (1962), five European Cups (1956–60), and the inaugural Intercontinental Cup (1960; played annually between the European and South American champions). After playing two seasons (1964–66) with RCD Espanyol (in Barcelona), he retired, having played 521 official club games and scored 377 goals. During his stay in Madrid, Di Stéfano became a Spanish citizen and played 31 times for his adopted country between 1957 and 1961, scoring 23 goals.

After his retirement as a player, Di Stéfano coached in both Spain and Argentina, enjoying league titles at Boca Juniors (Argentina) in 1970 and at Valencia (Spain) in 1971.